Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 229 They're all thousand-year-old foxes, what are they doing playing at Strange Tales from a Chinese
"As a qualified journalist, my duty is to present the most authentic side of things to the public! This is our professional spirit..."

Fingel spoke with conviction, and if one only looked at his expression and listened to his tone, one might actually think he was a man of principle.

"I don't know why, but your words give me a rather familiar feeling..." Lu Mingfei narrowed his eyes slightly. It was a sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

“It must be a journalist who shares the same professional ethics as me!” Fingel proudly puffed out his chest.

This sentence served as a good keyword index, Lu Mingfei remembered.

"Ah, I see. Your words and mannerisms are exactly the same as that paparazzi classmate of mine who takes pictures of me every day!"

"What's wrong with paparazzi? Paparazzi are the most dedicated journalists in the world. We have an incredibly keen sense for gossip, and we are skeptics. We are suspicious of everything and can see right through everything. We also possess all the virtues of a journalist!"
Therefore, we'd be willing to do even the dirtiest and most tiring work, even going so far as to rummage through the trash in a female celebrity's house, examining the packaging of her newly purchased lingerie to deduce whether she'd had plastic surgery!

"From your proud tone, I can roughly sense your dedication to your work..."

Lu Mingfei rubbed his hands together, "But as a victim of fabricated gossip, it's only natural that I talk to you about physics, right?"

“Junior brother, that’s where you’re wrong. I think explaining physics is a last resort. Before that, you should at least try reasoning with them. Don’t you Chinese have a saying, ‘Courtesy first, then force’? How will you know if it will work if you don’t try first!”

Fingel looked serious and spoke sincerely, and tried to play the identity card to get preferential treatment... but it was obviously a futile effort. Lu Mingfei had already heard about what kind of person Fingel was from Chu Zihang and Ye Sheng before this.

Terms like "two-faced" and "opportunist" are actually compliments when describing him; his most prominent characteristic is his greed for money. His moral compass can become extremely flexible under the influence of money. This flexibility doesn't refer to the extent of fluctuation, but rather to an infinite downward spiral—the only difference lies in how deep!
"What you said makes sense, so why don't you tell me the camera password first? I want to see what 'good stuff' you've photographed."

Lu Mingfei patted Fingel on the shoulder with a forced smile. He felt that Fingel was quite similar to himself in some ways. People are often the most aware of their own weaknesses. The only way to deal with someone who is good at talking is to take action!
Finger's camera was clearly professionally made. In addition to being highly portable, shockproof, and waterproof, it even had a password, so you couldn't see what photos he had taken without entering the password.

"Haha, isn't that unnecessary? Don't worry, junior brother, as a professional journalist, I never deliberately choose the angles for my photos, and my reports are never biased!"

Fingel chuckled dryly, trying to persuade Lu Mingfei with an assertive tone.

"Yes, yes, of course I believe in your professional ethics, senior! To be honest, even before I enrolled, I had already heard of your reputation as the king of paparazzi. In fact, I also want to be a journalist in the future, so I'm going to start learning some professional skills now!"

Lu Mingfei chose to fight fire with fire. His remarks were essentially a slightly modified version of Fingel's rhetoric, applied to himself, and the meaning was quite clear—we're all shrewd old foxes, so let's not waste time on nonsense.

"..."

Fingel opened his mouth, then hesitated. He clearly realized that he was unlikely to get through this ordeal, but the hope of getting rich was right in front of him, and he really wanted to hold on to it. So his bright, candle-like eyes darted around.

At that moment, a sentence floated lightly from Nuonuo's lips—

"You're still hung up on the last time you sold fake documents, aren't you?"

This sentence became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Fingel's once proud and upright chest finally collapsed, his burly body appeared somewhat listless, and the light in his eyes, which was originally as bright as a candle, was gone. He was like a lazy bum who had suddenly gone from striving for financial freedom to a salted fish who had lost his dreams.

"The password is..." he said weakly.

Lu Mingfei entered the password and opened the photo album to view the photos.

"hiss……"

He gasped instantly, his voice trembling slightly, a sense of lingering fear washing over him.

"This is what you meant by not deliberately choosing angles?!"

What kind of photo could have scared Lu Mingfei like this? Nono curiously leaned over for a peek.

"Tsk."

It was a photograph of near perfection; anyone who saw it at first glance would marvel at the photographer's superb skill—the stream rushed among the rocks, splashing up delicate droplets. A milky white mist, like gauze, clung to the dark green mountains, and the sky was shrouded in thick clouds. Only a single ray of sunlight pierced through, falling precisely on the two figures like a spotlight on a stage.

In the sunlight, Nuonuo's high ponytail glowed with a deep red, like a blazing flame, her eyes filled with an unfathomable meaning as she looked down slightly. Opposite her was Lu Mingfei's equally flawless face; the contours of their profiles were somewhat blurred by the pouring light… In that frozen moment, they appeared to be engaged in a more intimate contact.

This is an extremely clever filming technique, selecting the most suitable angle and using the "forced perspective" method. If Lu Mingfei weren't one of the main characters in this story, he would have thought it was real!
"Senior brother, do we have some kind of grudge?"

Lu Mingfei forced a smile, seriously considering whether using [Ming Jin] to injure his senior brother would result in a disciplinary action before even enrolling... Maybe he should use [An Jin] instead, leaving some hidden injuries so that he could suddenly die a few days later, and no one would suspect him!
"You've misunderstood. This is simply an artist's natural inclination to capture a sight! Just as a painter will definitely paint a picture after seeing a wonder, as an art photographer, I certainly can't miss a scene that's perfect for an art photograph, can I?"

Fingel tried to argue his point.

"Actually, I'm not going to post this photo at all! Believe me, I was going to post... If you scroll back a bit, those photos are much more normal, and the captions would be something like 'The Great Reconciliation of the Century'..."

"So you admit this photo is abnormal, right? And when did you become an artist photographer? What happened to your paparazzi identity?"

"Part-time, do you understand? Every qualified paparazzi needs to have both an artist's sense of smell and a photographer's skills! This is a basic requirement..."

Fingel clutched his chest, looking as if he were about to collapse from heartache. Because Lu Mingfei was completely unaffected by his sophistry and had already begun to destroy and delete him.

For the king of paparazzi, this is like losing millions of dollars for nothing... Given the public opinion he could create with that photo, as well as Nono and Lu Mingfei's identities and the wealth of the students at Kassel College, he is fully capable of doing it!
He had only deleted half of it when Lu Mingfei paused. It wasn't out of mercy, but rather the vibration of his phone that came through his pocket.

Only a handful of people knew his phone number, and without exception, they were all important to him. They wouldn't call unless it was something important... His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly pulled out his phone.

The screen displays the name of the caller.

"Liu Miaomiao?"

He muttered to himself as he handed the camera to Nono.

"Senior sister, you delete it, make sure you delete it completely!"

"Okay." Nono nodded in response.

Lu Mingfei then walked aside with a sense of relief and answered the phone.

"Hey?"

……

Watching Lu Mingfei's figure disappear into the distance, Nuonuo first looked down at the camera in her hand, then instead of deleting anything, she threw it directly to Finger.

"What a chivalrous woman!"

Fingel's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly caught it, tentatively asking, "What is this...?"

"Don't misunderstand, I'm too lazy to delete it because I believe that with your style, there would be a hidden backup somewhere else the moment you took the picture, so it's impossible to delete it completely. Putting everything else aside, this modified special camera should be able to connect to the internet, right?" Nono crossed her arms, gave a cold smile, and looked like a real little witch who could see right through people.

"It's a misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding!" Fingel cried out, trying to put on a fawning smile.

"I don't really care, but if he doesn't want to post it, then you shouldn't post it either."

Nono waved her hand, too lazy to pay attention to Finger's meaningless nonsense.

Consider this a warning, or I'll expose what you've been hiding. Don't think I can't see through it... Although I can't see through everything, it should still be a big problem for you.

"You mean the 1TB of seeds I hid..." Fingel wiped the cold sweat that suddenly appeared on his forehead.

"If you think so, then it is~"

Nono smiled indifferently and turned to leave. The nickname "Little Witch" couldn't be more fitting for her. Whether she was acting crazy or insightful, she always seemed to have everything under control, making it difficult for her to truly be interested in anything.

Unless... it's something you truly don't understand.

"Oh, right."

Nono walked further and further away without stopping.

"That photo is really well taken, remember to send me a copy."

The last word came out softly, and soon she disappeared behind a grove of trees. Lu Mingfei had already been chatting and heading in another direction, leaving Fingel alone.

"Really..."

The froze, ingratiating smile on Fingel's face finally vanished. When this king of paparazzi became truly serious, a subtle air of authority emanated from the man.

He had hidden it far too well in his daily life... but he never expected that someone who should theoretically be completely unaware of it could see through it.

"It's like a bug in the system..."

He spoke in a low voice, recalling the battle he hadn't even been able to watch from the sidelines, and those dark eyes that seemed to see through everything.

"There are two of them. To say they're not related is pure nonsense, isn't it?"

He shook his head, packed his things, and chose a direction to go.

……

"Hey?"

A soft, delicate girl's voice came through the microphone.

"Hello?"

The corners of his mouth were slightly raised.

For some reason, Lu Mingfei felt as if a long time had passed. But thinking back, he remembered that he had even gone to Xiaobaicai's house yesterday to have dinner with her.

He'd only been out for a morning and half an afternoon, and it was almost time to go back. Counting on his fingers, it was only ten hours in total, yet it felt like a lifetime.

Perhaps this is because it's so fulfilling? Every minute and every second is filled, there's no time to waste, so it's hard to ignore.

Overall, Lu Mingfei still likes this kind of life. Compared to the past many years, he doesn't remember many things, and most of them are not good. Every moment now is worth remembering.

When that familiar voice came, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt a sense of relaxation. It was like returning to a warm home after a long day, sinking into a bathtub filled with hot water, every pore on his body opening up, filled with an indescribable joy.

"Hey Hey hey?"

Liu Miaomiao on the other end of the phone replied in perfect unison.

The two chuckled softly in unison.

"What are you laughing at?" ×2
There were two unanimous responses and light laughs, followed by a brief silence. Liu Miaomiao cleared her throat and finally got down to business.

"Did I disturb you? What's going on over there?"

"Of course not! How could anything go wrong when I'm in charge? I'll get it done in no time, okay?"

Lu Mingfei subconsciously began peeling bark off a pine tree beside him. He didn't know why, but he always made various small movements when talking on the phone, including, but not limited to, kicking water bottles, kicking walls, or fiddling with things...

"You're just bragging, aren't you? I don't believe you!" Liu Miaomiao questioned. "Unless you show me..."

Isn't this map of the Yan Kingdom a bit too short?

Lu Mingfei mentally complained, but quickly changed the subject after agreeing aloud: "Next time, next time, definitely... By the way, what's up?"

"Can you make it back today?" Liu Miaomiao asked softly.

"Sure, I should be going back soon. It should be quick by plane."

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment, "Unless the leader is planning to make us take the train... then I'll report him for embezzling funds!"

Zhang Shanfeng, who was in the operations command center, suddenly sneezed.

"Then I'll pay for your plane ticket, and you can fly back, okay?"

Liu Miaomiao spoke subconsciously, only realizing her mistake after she finished speaking.

"That's not what I meant. It's just... I have a piano lesson tonight... but... there's some important news!"

In just a few words, the girl felt her cheeks flush and her temperature rise. Before Lu Mingfei could respond, she blurted out everything.

"There's an international piano concert coming up in a few days, and it happens to be held here. Aunt Shanshan wants us to take this opportunity to perform and release piano pieces..."

(End of this chapter)